Community Policing and Drugs - History, Issues and Programs

Running Head: Community Policing and Drugs; History,

Issues and Programs

Introduction:

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, the definition of community policing is defined as; It's a policing philosophy that was created to promote and support organizational strategies in order to address the causes and reduce the fear of crime and social disorder through the problem-solving tactics and community-police partnerships. In other words, it is a problem solving approach to crime, partnerships as well as disorder, involving the police and the community, to come together in solving the problems. Retrieved from http://safestate.org/index.cfm?navId=7 on April 26, 2007.

Retrieved from Miller, Linda and Hess, Karen 2005, Community Policing Vol.4 Partnerships for Problem Solving, Page 4.

The Evolution of Community Policing:

The history of modern law enforcement today, began 178 years ago by Sir Robert Peel who was the first chief of the London's Metropolitan Police in 1829. Early American policing had developed similarly along the lines of those of the London police around the time of the Civil War. Retrieved from The'Lectric Law Library's stacks Community Policing: Learning the Lessons of History, By Sgt. Jeffrey Patterson http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cjs07.htm on April 26, 2007.

Peel's principles emphasized the interdependency of the public and the police as well as emphasized the prevention of crime and disorder. (Retrieved from Miller, Linda and Hess, Karen 2005, Community Policing Vol.4 Partnerships for Problem Solving, Page 7.) This new type of police force was created by Peel in hopes to reduce the rising crime rates involving poverty, alcoholism, immigration, protest groups etc. Peel's principles have laid the foundation for the traditional policing model for all American and British police forces from 1829 to present. Retrieved from http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cjs07.htm The 'Lectric Law Library's stacks Community Policing: Learning the Lessons of History, By Sgt. Jeffrey Patterson on April 26, 2007.

Political Era:

There were three eras of policing that, all together formed what we now know as Community Policing. The first era of policing was the Political Era which was between 1840 and 1930. During this era, police work was tied in closely with the USA politics.

This was a very different type of policing in America as the policing in Britain at this time. Police in America were controlled by politicians in everything they did. This era was when police started using foot patrol, which in turn socialized police with the public better. The benefits of this was that the police were familiar with their patrol areas, and did a good job of maintaining order, though the downfall of this era was the fact that there was a lot of abuse of immigrants, which caused widespread corruption among the police departments.

Retrieved from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, August 1996 http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/crimepre.pdf on April 29, 2007.

Retrieved from Miller, Linda and Hess, Karen 2005, Community Policing Vol.4 Partnerships for Problem Solving, Page 9.

Reform Era:

The Reform Era, otherwise known as the progressive era took place between 1930 and 1980. Retrieved from Miller, Linda and Hess, Karen 2005, Community Policing Vol.4 Partnerships for Problem Solving, Page 10. This era began to rehabilitate politics into a more professional, law form due to the widespread of corruption in previous years with the local police departments in the political era. This lead to the state and cities taking over the departments and drew the police away from politics. According to the United States Department of Justice, another change in this era was the relationship between the officers and the public. In the previous era, police and the public were close, in this era, it was the total opposite. This era relied heavily on the use of the advancing technology such as emergency phones, the 911 center, improved policing vehicles, etc. The police were only there to enforce the law and their relationships were detached from the citizens. Foot patrol was now taken over by police vehicles and as well as the team policing approach which assigned specific police officers to specific areas of the neighborhood which would be their permanent patrol area. A lot of police agencies still use this type of approach. Retrieved from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, August 1996 http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/crimepre.pdf on April 29, 2007.)

The 'Lectric Law Library's Community Policing: Learning the Lessons of History, By Sgt. Jeffrey Patterson http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cjs07.htm on April 26, 2007.

Miller, Linda and Hess, Karen 2005, Community Policing Vol.4 Partnerships for Problem Solving, Page 11.

Community Era

The community era began in 1980, and continues on until present. During this era, agencies geared their focus towards fighting crime and drugs. This era is built with a mix of what made up the previous two eras. It is based on support from the community as well as from politics and the law. It has developed many more services to the public than in previous years, and has made an attempt to become more personal and sociable with the public.

It took three generations of community policing to create the law enforcement agencies we have in America today. The first generation was considered the innovation generation which took place from 1979 to 1986, which incorporated the "testing" of community policing approaches. The next was the diffusion generation which took place from 1987 to 1994....not too long ago. According to The United States Department of Justice, this period took off with many agencies around the country adopting the same philosophical techniques, policing procedures, hiring processes, training programs, as well as many organizational programs. Retrieved from The United States Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/Default.asp?Item=36 on April 28, 2007.

The last generation which is what we are in now, was created in 1995. This generation is considered to be the generation